From TV drama to furniture to fashion, Scandinavian style is invading Scotland

Janet Christie

The jumper sold out so fast that manufacturers Gudrun and Gudrun couldn’t keep up with orders.

It’s a sign of the times as Scandinavia is the new style crucible, increasingly influencing our design choices. We’re used to Ikea furnishing our homes, but not content with providing our wardrobes, those so hot they’re cool Scandos are determined to fill them too, with elegant, understated outfits in a palette of greys, blues and blacks.

From Swedish chains Cos, H&M and Monki for teens, which launches in Selfridges this autumn, to the Danish label Day Birger et Mikkelsen, Scandinavian designers are the hippest of the hip.

And it’s not just fashion. The Scandinavian wave is taking over TV and film too. When we’re not watching The Killing, there are the original Swedish and BBC versions of Wallander, while the film of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which Stockholm had a leading role, is a smash hit. Norwegian photographer Solve Sundsbo did the Alexander McQueen archive for the recent Savage Beauty book and Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, and Scandinavian supermodels such as Swedes Freja Beha Erichsen and Frida Gustavsson, and Norwegian Iselin Steiro, stalk the catwalks in clog-inspired shoes from Swedish brand hasbeen.

Of course, there’s nothing new about Scandinavians visiting our shores. With parts of Norway, Sweden and Denmark closer to Scotland than some other parts of the rest of the UK, it would be strange if they didn’t. You only have to look at the Up Helly Aa celebrations, the Scandinavian words in everyday usage – midden, and lug – to see the Norse influence. So the footprint of the Viking raiders and settlers is well and truly stamped on Scotland. But these days the new wave of Scandinavians are a peaceable bunch who have shed their horny helmets and left the axes at home.

While the Office for National Statistics doesn’t have figures for the Scandinavians settled in Scotland, according to Consul Mona Røhne, of the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, “there are several thousand Norwegians living and working in Scotland, mostly in the Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen areas. Furthermore there are about 300 Norwegian students studying at various Scottish universities in addition to seven Norwegian Scottish friendship societies.”

Meanwhile the Swedish Consul General, Torvald Colliander says that while there may be fewer than 100 Swedes per annum settling in Scotland, they’re definitely hitting above their weight in terms of style influence.

“We are very proud of our ability as a nation to make and do things,” he says. “We have a very important engineering industry. There’s a strong history going back 1,000 years with Swedes travelling here, but also of Scots living in places like Gothenburg. It’s nice that we are able to return the favour and spread our influence here.”

One Scandinavian leading the new invasion is Dane Karina Baldorf from Kakao by K in Edinburgh’s designer enclave of Thistle Street, who specialises in Scandinavian fashion such as By Malene Birger, Noa Noa, House of Lykke and Soaked in Luxury. Originally from Copenhagen, the 33-year-old has lived in Scotland for ten years.

“I came for a few months but I’m still here,” she says. “I couldn’t think of living anywhere else now. It is such a great place and full of opportunities.”

“Scandinavian fashion has really taken off globally. The clothes are practical and timeless and knitwear is big. People want to look good when it’s cold too, which is why they’re so good at knitwear.”

Practical, attractive homewares from Scandinavia are also going down a storm with Scottish homeowners, who long ago bought into the Ikea dream of pared-down simplicity.

At Morningside interiors shop Spektakular, Charlotte Brink and Richard Gibson have been specialising in Scandinavian homeware designs pitched between high-end products and Ikea for the past year. “We have Swedish, Danish and Norwegian pieces,” says Brink, who came to Scotland from Sweden six years ago.

“Scots like our things because they’re a bit different but still functional and affordable. In Sweden we’re always changing our houses, putting up winter curtains and swapping cushions and lampshades.”

Like any immigrant community the Scandinavians are tight-knit and one of the venues for Kakao’s pop-up shops is Sofi’s pub in Leith, owned by Swedish couple Anna and Mike Christopherson. One of a chain of four Edinburgh pubs owned by the pair, it specialises in Scandinavian food such as Swedish pork meatballs, and bonhomie. It was the pub culture that made settling in Scotland so attractive to the Christophersons.

“There isn’t the same social and community aspect in Sweden. Swedes are famous for being depressed in winter and it’s because they don’t socialise. If you invite people home you have to prepare a three-course dinner and clean the whole house. It’s too much. So we had the idea of a bar with a nice atmosphere where you could go and see friends.”

Running a pub wasn’t part of the plan for the Christophersons, although they were looking for a change of lifestyle. In Sweden Anna was CEO for a property company and Mike was a management consultant.

“In Sweden we worked all the time and were stressed so we needed a break. We came for a year and then ended up staying and setting up a wine trading business, but couldn’t find a pub we would like to drink in. So Mike said ‘let’s open a pub’.

“People said, ‘a wine bar in Leith Walk selling Bollinger? You’re mad.’ But they became regulars. The idea was to create a living room where people could come drink coffee or alcohol.”

Boda, named after the settlement where Anna grew up, opened in 2004 and Sofi’s near the waterfront followed nine months later. Victoria made three in 2006 and Joseph Pearce’s at the top of Leith Walk opened for business in 2008.

“I sometimes dream I could go back to Boda and write books filled with all the stories and characters from the pubs,” she says. “But we are so happy here and it’s going well.”

“You miss the seasons, warm summers and proper winters with proper snow – although last year here was fantastic! And we do miss Swedish hard cheese.”

Not that there’s any shortage of Scando food in Scotland, with Peter’s Yard at Quartermile and the Jo-Jo’s Danish bakery in St Mary Street.

But what is it that makes the Scandinavians feel so at home here?

“It’s a similar mentality,” says Christopherson, “We understand each other well. There’s a warm, relaxed ambience and there’s access to the outdoors, which we love.”

Meanwhile in Sofi’s bar, Helene Nordberg is helping out with the Kakao pop-up shop. Nordberg runs the franchise for Vincent Shoe Store, the Swedish-owned brand that counts the likes of Brooke Shields, Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts as customers. A former teacher from Stockholm, she arrived here after her daughter Charlotte married a Scot.

“I woke one day in my beautiful flat and thought, ‘I have a grandchild in Scotland, what am I doing here?’ I had divorced after 35 years and thought, ‘why not, life is for living’. So I came over and I love it. People are so open, friendly and positive.”

She breaks off to close the sale on a dark red silk dress. “The colour is perfect for winter,” she declares. And she’s spot-on for it’s the exact shade as the new chunky knit Detective Lund will be wearing on our screens this winter. Those Scandinavians – they’re about to make a killing.

Kakao by K hosts a fashion show on Thursday at Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh, tickets £10 from Kakao by K, 45 Thistle Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1DY, 0131-226 3584, email: [email protected], www.kakao.co.uk